


Libraries and Lacerations

by freezingoceans



Series: Fluff and Follies [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brief Hospital Mentions, Building Collapse, Gen, Jon Gets Injured TM, Jon is having a rough day, Prequel? Kind Of?, Technically part of a bakery AU, Think i got everything?, brief death mention, urban exploring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29719362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freezingoceans/pseuds/freezingoceans
Summary: Jon walked in, careful to not touch anything he saw. He didn’t want to disturb the place, anything might be important. Well, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but there had to be something.There was always something.
Relationships: Georgie Barker & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Alice "Daisy" Tonner
Series: Fluff and Follies [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116713
Comments: 11
Kudos: 25





	Libraries and Lacerations

Jon was careful when he went exploring. He played it safe, went in pairs, made sure he found building layouts before he went, did all the things he was supposed to.

But the records on this library were shockingly lacking. He couldn’t find  _ anything _ , no maps, no building permits, not even a deed. So, the only course of action was to go find out what was going on in there himself. Georgie thought this was “the dumbest idea he’d had since the Toaster Incident” but that wasn’t going to stop him. He’d just go alone, and leave a note so she’d know where he was, and how long he’d be gone for.

Looking at the entrance to the library though, the way the carvings in the arches of the door almost beckoned to him, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to do this. But he couldn’t back down now, it just wasn’t an option. 

Jon walked in, careful to not touch anything he saw. He didn’t want to disturb the place, anything might be important. Well, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but there had to be  _ something _ .

There was always something.

The place felt like it had been left in a hurry, there were papers everywhere, and what looked like carts still half filled with books to be shelved. Despite the fact it looked like someone was coming back any minute, there was dust covering every surface, and the very distinct smell of rot in the air.

Jon hummed. It all looked as he expected so far, as much as he had expected anything. He walked further in, looking around for a sign of something, anything, that could explain why this building was so strange. 

After a while, he decided that anything odd wasn’t available to the public, so Jon went back to a door with a small “staff only” sign hanging above it. He pulled out a small kit from his bag, filled with various lock picking tools, and set to work. Bobby pins had served him well in the past, but this was faster.

Several minutes later, Jon heard the distinct ‘click’ of success, and pushed the door open. Instead of a back room with sorted books and carts, or a break area, there was a staircase, leading down, and off to the right.

He went slowly, testing his weight on each step. Wouldn’t do for him to fall through with no way back up. Georgie would never let him forget it. Jon made it to the bottom and clicked on his phone’s torch.

“Of course the one time I find anything interesting, I forget the things I  _ actually  _ need at home,” Jon muttered, looking at the vast expanse of filing cabinets before him. They stretched further then he could see, and there wasn’t any indication of what was inside. 

Most interesting was the smell. It was dusty, but that was it. There wasn’t any rot or anything else Jon associated with abandoned places.

So it was time to get back to breaking into things. Answers were here, he just knew it.

He was so absorbed in going through the files, records of places and people he’d never heard of that Jon almost missed the distinct sound of something breathing. He looked up with a start, holding his breath on instinct.

Something else was down here with him.

Jon stood, shoving the folders into his bag, before walking as quietly as he could manage further into the place. If it was a person, they were probably near the entrance, so he’d have to find another way out, or lead them away.

“Hello? Anyone here?” a woman’s voice called out, loud and sharp against the quiet he had been in for hours.

Jon didn’t answer. He wasn’t a fool.

The woman stepped around, and Jon began slowly inching his way to the back of the area, it’d be easier to hide if he was far off and out of sight. The building creaked around them, he’d brush it off as something normal, but it was… deeper than that. It sounded further into the structure then if it was just the library settling into itself.

“Shit!” the woman said, as Jon heard the sounds of something metal hitting a cabinet, and then they were falling, and he was running out of the way. It was all so loud and fast and then it got so much worse as the creaking he had heard intensified, and then changed to splintering. He ducked, pulling his hands over his head as the building above him collapsed.

Jon sat there for what might have been minutes or hours, curled in on himself. He hurt, all over, and his back was screaming at him, but he didn’t dare move. The cabinets bent, giving him a tiny pocket of space, but he was so afraid. If he moved, it might come tumbling down, and then…

No. He wasn’t going to think about that now. He couldn’t, he’d hyperventilate and then the air would get warmer and then he’d run out and die in this stupid library. What was he  _ thinking _ going down here?

Jon’s spiraling thoughts stopped when he heard a groan. It was close, and it was very much human. The woman, from earlier, he guessed. He didn’t really have a reason to hide anymore. So Jon offered a tentative “Hello?”

The woman groaned, and made some attempt at a response. Jon couldn’t really understand it, her words were all blending together and he wasn’t sure if it was her slurring her speech, or he had hit his head in the collapse.

Either way, things were not good.

Jon moved slightly, squirming towards the sound. His chest ached with each breath, and he couldn’t move quickly, between the very delicate balance he was striking with the cabinets, and the searing pain in his rib-cage. Jon bit back a scream, not wanting to scare the other person stuck here with him.

“Ah, hello? You there?”

“Mmmhere. Are…. you?”

Oh, that was bad. “Yes, I’m here. My name is Jonathan Sims, and-” he couldn’t keep talking, the dust and his ribs and the small, small space, it was all so much. 

“Daisy,” the voice said.

“What?” 

“Name’s Daisy.”

“Oh. Good, that’s… That’s good.”

Jon let himself be quiet, focusing on his breathing and moving as little as he can. He was just so tired, it couldn’t hurt to close his eyes for just a moment, right?

* * *

Jon blinked. Was someone saying his name? Georgie should know if he’s napping, he  _ needs _ the sleep.

There it was again! The voice! Not Georgie, it was- The past hour came flooding back to him, as did a concerning lack of pain in his chest. Jon tried opening his eyes again, but he just ached all over, he had to have fallen asleep or passed out, as the debris above him had shifted ever so slightly, just enough that he had slightly more space to maneuver in.

“Daisy?”

“Jon? I thought-”

“Oh. No, I’m- Alright isn’t the word, but I’m here.”

“Let’s…. Stay awake. Tell stories or somethin’,” she said.

So Jon told Daisy stories, first of his life, of growing up with his grandmother, how he let himself fall into books rather than people, and as those tales ran short, he started to retell what he could remember of his favourite books. He walked Daisy through Oz, told her about Narnia, and when that well ran dry, Jon tried his best to spin a story of his own. Something with libraries, and magic, and the ability to go home to a warm hearth at the end of the day.

He talked until his voice was sore with overuse, and he was choking on dust.

And when he couldn’t talk anymore, there came the sound of something above him moving. There were footsteps, voices, people. A woman was calling Daisy’s name. 

His heart rose, hope and the shelf over him fell, and then all was black again.

* * *

Needless to say Georgie was  _ not _ happy with him. 

“They had to remove two of your ribs, Jon!  _ Two! _ ”

“But I’m not dead, so what if, and hear me out: We forget this happened and I just continue on being in pain,” Jon said.

“No. I’m banning you from The Admiral if you get another building collapsed on you.”

He tried to gasp in shock, but the instant pain turned it into a cough, which also hurt. His whole body ached. Dropping a library on a person can do that, apparently.

“Jon? You okay?”

“Yeah, just… shouldn’t do that until I’m a bit healed up.”

“No more Admiral, and no more jokes,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Jokes have left the room, it's all serious,” Jon quipped back, fighting a smile.

Georgie frowned at him, demeanor shifting. Jon avoided her gaze.

“You have to be more careful. I don’t want to bury another friend.”

Jon nodded. “I promise I’ll be more careful. Can’t say I won’t keep doing dumb things, but I swear I’ll make sure to never do anything dumb alone.” 

“Guess that’ll have to do. One of these days, I’ll find you a hobby that doesn't involve mild crime,” Georgie said, letting the mood in the room lift to something brighter. He smiled, and readied himself for the usual banter that possessed his time with her. It sure would be interesting to see what Georgie Barker thought could replace exploring abandoned buildings in terms of excitement.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this born of the instant and random desire to make a bakery!AU jon feel pain? yes. I am eternally grateful to nobu-akuma for letting me do this, in her AU. Also ignore the parts where I don't know anything about urban exploring, that's just hearsay.


End file.
